United Nations (United States) (AFP) – The United Nations on Monday said it would temporarily remove the Saudi-led coalition from a blacklist over the deaths of hundreds of children in Yemen. Saudi Arabia had reacted angrily to a UN decision to add the coalition to a list of children’s rights violators after determining that it was responsible for 60 percent of the 785 children killed in Yemen last year.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon agreed to a Saudi proposal to review the facts and cases cited in the report jointly with the coalition, his spokesman Stephan Dujarric said. “Pending the conclusions of the joint review, the secretary-general removes the listing of the coalition in the report’s annex,” he added. Saudi Ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi told reporters that the coalition felt “vindicated” and declared that the change to the list was “final and unconditional.” The ambassador earlier said he was “deeply disappointed” and “disturbed” by the report and that the figure of 60 percent was “wildly exaggerated.” He demanded the report “be corrected immediately so that it does not reflect the accusations against the coalition and Saudi Arabia in particular.” Mouallimi met with UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson to discuss the listing.